The Smell of Butterflies
by Abenobashi
Summary: The Briefs have an amnesiac young woman living with them. What mysteries lie in her past? And what dark secrets? And why does Vegeta think he'll have to kill her? Rated M for cursing and some violent descriptions of monsters...but not too many ;D
1. Awakening

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the DBZ characters. I wish I did, though. Min is my own creation, but some aspects of her past are not. I can't say right now, because it would spoil a big hunk of the plot. Also, "cleansing chalk" is courtesy of Jhonen Vasquez's _Invader Zim_**** series. And no, there is no bacon in the chalk.**

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Chapter 1

**_Awakening_****  
**

Min's eyes shot open. Another nightmare. Not again...and they were coming more frequently now. Brief flashes of...god alone knew what. What was it she'd seen? The images faded as swiftly as she tried to recall them. She held her head in her hands, as though she might be able to scoop the memories out of her head...

How cliché, she thought. Hold them in my hands... She sat up. Why were they coming? What were they...what was...that thing in her mind...it was so close...almost...

She vomited.

_Of course_, she thought as she finished retching,_ it had to be summer. It couldn't be a nice winter evening, where she was tucked into the thick comforters that Bulma was always anxious to cover her with. "You're too thin, Min," she would always say. "How can you eat so much and be so small?"_

Min rolled her eyes. _No point in fantasizing_. It was the dead of summer, and she'd been feverish with her nighttime horrors...and now she had vomit coating her legs, torso, the slimy stickiness of it revolting on her body as she stirred along the mattress cover... _Uh oh_. She felt nauseous again... Grabbing the loose sheet to try to keep the vile mess from trailing down to drip on the floor, she raced to the bathroom, trying to reach a toilet this time.

And yet, as typically happens to the wary nausea victim, she discovered that the sickness had abated by the time she'd reached the toilet. But no matter. She wasn't sick; she was just disgusted. If her stomach had decided to withhold the remainder of its dinner, then all the better for her. Tossing her underwear and the filthy sheet into the cleaner against the wall, she slid into the shower, letting the jets of water soothe her as they drenched her body from all directions.

Before long, she'd brought herself back to as normal a state as she could hope for after being frightened awake at three in the morning. Heading back into her room, she stripped the silicone mattress of the puke covered sheets, tossing them in the cleaner as well. It was close to three thirty now. Min sighed. There was no point in going back to bed: not only would she probably have a recurrence of the dreams, but she had to be up by five, anyway. Bulma and Mrs. Briefs were dragging the family- including Min- on an outing. Min didn't particularly mind, but then, she rarely had any objection to what her adoptive family chose to do. What could she possibly say? It was good enough that they had taken her in; she had nowhere else to go. Shrugging off the dreary thought of her lack of a real family, Min quickly dressed in her usually baggy clothes, holding up her jeans with a belt she'd borrowed from Bra until she could go out and find her own. The Briefs didn't like her shoplifting, so she tried to keep it as quiet as possible, and hadn't stolen anything for weeks. Belts were things that she preferred to borrow, as her choice of attire would make the acquisition of one too noticeable. Besides, Bra had lent her a black one this time, not one of those hideous flowery ones that she occasionally bought in a fit of...something. She'd given her one last time, and Min had almost gone to get the tight clothing that most girls wore so she wouldn't have to wear it. Almost.

Min shook her head, clearing it of her aimless musings, and tiptoed downstairs to see if there was anything she could do to help with the picnic. Maybe Bulma and Mrs. Briefs had forgotten to cook something. Though that was doubtful.

Once downstairs, she suddenly felt like drinking milk. She pulled it out of the fridge and got a glass. The milk splashed comfortingly against the sides, making no noise as she filled the cup. While she was taking a gulp, someone snuck behind her and grabbed her shoulders. "Boo!" Trunks hissed near her ear.

Min started to choke on her milk violently, and loudly too. Trunks looked alarmed, and tried to stifle her with a dishtowel so she wouldn't wake anyone up. Her fit continued for a few minutes before she finally cleared her airway of the liquid. She straightened woozily, punching the man as hard as she could manage. He barely flinched. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she whispered angrily.

"You woke me up. What were all those noises you were making?"

"What noises?" she asked, not wanting to admit that she'd been sick.

"You were moaning in your sleep."

She looked at him uneasily. "I was?"

"Yeah...are you okay?"

"Of course. I was just having a nightmare."

"Must've been one hell of a nightmare. Never heard you talk in your sleep."

"I was talking?!" she asked excitedly. "What did I say?"

"I dunno." He pushed himself off of the counter he'd been leaning against, walking over to a fruit basket to pick an apple. "You'er jus' makin' a jot uh noi'," he repeated, taking a bite.

Min eyed him, torn between disgust and amusement. "Thanks a lot, Trunks," she said sarcastically.

"Wha'?" I digint-"

"Don't talk with your mouth full man. You know I can't understand you worth shit."

He grunted, annoyed, but chewed and swallowed. "Why do you want to know so bad?"

"I don't remember what I was dreaming about. I just know it wasn't nice." She sipped her milk thoughtfully. "It's bugging me."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it," Trunks said lazily. "They're just dreams."

"They're really bad," Min said in a quiet voice. "Trunks...they're awful."

The pink-haired man looked over at his friend. She seemed disturbed, intensely so- and he wasn't used to her getting affected by anything. He sighed inwardly...it had taken him a year to get close to her, and he wasn't about to waste it by walking away, no matter how much he didn't feel like dealing with her problems. "What could they be," he asked rhetorically, "to make you so upset?"

"I don't know!" She slammed the glass of milk on the counter, spilling it all over her arm. She paid it no mind. "What the fuck is wrong with me?"

"Min? You okay?"

"Not really, man. I don't like them."

"Well, I can see that. You gonna clean up your arm?"

"What?" She looked down, surprised that she was dripping with milk. "Aww...I was drinking that." She reached for some cleansing chalk to wash her arm quickly.

"Why are you down here?" Trunks asked. "You don't really need to be up yet, do you?"

"Why are you here, man?"

"I wanted to check on you."

"Damn...that's pretty sweet, coming from you. You're usually such a selfish bastard."

"Hey! This is what I get for being nice to you?"

"Naw, man...thanks, I think. I don't really feel any better, but..."

"Fuck you, Min." He started to walk away, but stopped as he reached the doorway. Min finished cleaning her arm and looked up, expecting him to keep walking.

"Aren't you going?"

He turned back to her, suddenly smiling, and winked at her. "You don't want me to leave, do you?"

Min raised her eyebrows. "I do if you're gonna be like that. You're so odd."

"What do you know about odd? You don't even remember anything from before you met me...except your name, it would seem."

"Yeah, well, I know a freak when I see him." She ducked as he threw his apple core across the room at her. "Hey! That's gross!"

"Oh, you'll get over it." He laughed at her, and Min allowed herself a small smile. Trunks was pleased with himself. He was one of the few who could make her smile...although he'd never seen her laugh. _Well, maybe next time_, he told himself as he went to raid the refrigerator. "Wow, look at all this food!" he exclaimed, seeing what Mrs Briefs and Bulma had made for the day.

"Don't you eat that. That's for the...whatever they have planned. A picnic, I think."

"Well, what's the difference between eating it then and now?" he asked, pulling out a large plate. Min smacked him and took it.

"The difference is that I'm the one who's going to have to cook more if you turn into a pig!"

"You don't have to cook by yourself..."

"I can't let your mom and grandmother go through all this trouble again! Besides, I didn't get a chance to help them the last time."

"I could help."

She snorted. "I choose life, thank you. You'd blow up the whole goddamned house."

"Such confidence. You trust me with Capsules."

"You know it." Min stretched, her taut body releasing itself. There was no need to be tense talking to Trunks. He just wasn't worth the effort. "But the lab is not a kitchen."

"What, you think only women can cook?"

"If everyone else except you is a woman, then yes."

"Hey!" He punched her.

Min had to struggle not to buckle in pain. The boy could punch; she'd give him that... "Hitting on girls is the same as hitting them now?"

"Gee, Min, are you flirting with me?"

"Fucking ass." She tried to hit him, but he caught her fist and pushed her back gently. Min rolled her eyes, turning away as he burst into laughter. "What?" she asked, annoyed.

"You're just...so...tiny!!!" Min glared at him, but his cackling only grew louder.

"Shush, before you wake up the whole damned house." He stuffed his fist in his mouth and she grimaced. "Don't you touch me with that later. What so funny about my size?" She stood a firm five feet. Although, since she was so skinny, she weighed under a hundred pounds. "What is your problem?"

Trunks finally mastered himself, but then stood for a few moments just looking at her, his pupils shaking as he tried not to laugh. Min growled in exasperation and left. "No, wait!" she heard the man call. Ignoring him, she stormed out of the house, setting off at a jog until she reached the park a couple miles away.

Deep within the garden, Min deftly scaled her favorite tree. She'd never bothered to find out what it was called, but it usually had at least one delicate golden blossom that tickled her face and made her giggle. That night, the blossoms seemed almost effervescent as the moonlight glimmered opaquely through their translucent petals, giving the old tree an almost otherworldly quality. The young woman smiled softly, her expression far more gentle than any of the Briefs had seen. Here, she was safe from the nightmares, and Trunks' obnoxious laughter. She rolled her eyes at the thought of him...laughing at her size...like it was her fault?! _What an ass_, she thought angrily, _what a mother fucking_...

The wind blew softly through the park, rustling the blossoms and cooling Min's heated face. She sighed, seeing she needed to calm down. She gazed softly at the round, full, luminous orb in the sky, shooting forth its final beams of brilliance upon the dozing earth as it sank slowly towards the horizon. Just as it shone its boldest beacon, the sun peaked over the city line, dowsing Min's back in its warm and gentle bath of morning light. Min reveled in the feeling for a few moments, knowing it would be a while before she had another chance to experience this muted fiery heat. She looked into the sky, loving the balance of the warm red and gold of the sunrise as it coincided with the pearly moon. For just an instant, the sky around the night's pale star would flash a brilliant leafy green...there. She shivered pleasantly at the sight, which she managed to view so rarely. _And not a cloud in the sky_, she noted to herself. Today was perfect. Bulma and Mrs. Briefs would be so pleased...and she realized that she needed to head back. If she was too long, they'd send Trunks to get her, and she didn't want him to intrude on this beautiful place. She hopped down from her sentinel and set a brisk pace on the way back.

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**Thanks for reading this! Any comments welcome! I realize the plot might seem a little slow, but this is a pretty long story, so get ready. I'm actually going to post the second chapter in just a minute, because it has a little bit more plot development. By the time you're reading this, it should be finished, so reload the page and enjoy!**

** -Abenobashi**


	2. The Family Outing

Chapter 2

**_The Family Outing_**

Later that day, the whole family was lounging by a lake fifty miles away. Trunks and Bra had dragged Min to the other side of the lake from the rest of their family, refusing to talk to their parents and grandparents as they'd both been forbidden from bringing their respective "love" interests to the family outing. As usual, their bickering was getting on Min's nerves. And the subject of their argument didn't help her mood.

"Trunks, stop laughing at poor Min!" Bra snapped, patting Min's arm protectively. Min rolled her eyes.

"But...she just looks so funny!"

"It's cute!"

"It barely fits!" Min threw a handful of mud at his face from the puddle nearby. She was only wearing a dress to make Bulma happy, but since she didn't own any, she'd had to borrow one of Bra's. As Bra was not only a normal height, but much more curvaceous than Min was, despite being about seven years younger and just entering her teens, they'd had to use a belt around Min's undersized waist to make it look as though it fit. It was made of plastic purple flowers. The poor woman felt like an idiot.

Presently, Trunks tackled Min and his sister, but Min's attire and smaller size enabled her to wriggle free. Bra was less fortunate and got knocked into the mud puddle. "Trunks!" she screamed angrily.

He scratched his head sheepishly, not especially sorry for the mistake. "It's a good look for you," he said, nudging Min in the ribs in an attempt to get her to laugh along with him.

Min, however, wasn't ticklish, and didn't get the joke. She stared at him. "What?"

"You're supposed to laugh, Min," he sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Maybe it wasn't funny," Bra snapped from behind Min. Trunks' eyes widened and he narrowly dodged the rock his sister threw at his head.

"Shit, girl, it was just some mud!"

"Bura Briefs!" Bulma roared from across the lake, startling all three of them. "You know better than to throw things at your brother!"

"He can handle it!" the adolescent screamed back.

"Leave her alone, Bulma," Vegeta said, his eyes closed as he lay in the grass. "Trunks can take care of himself."

Bulma rounded on her husband. "And I suppose Min can take care of herself too?" Vegeta had an abnormal fondness for the mysterious young woman, having been the one to rescue her from certain death a year and a half before. Just what that certain death had been, however, none save he knew, but whatever it had been, Min had barely survived.

"They won't hurt Min," Vegeta replied, annoyed at his wife's attempts to drag him in.

Bulma arched her brows, knowing what he thought she was trying to do. She was serious. "Maybe not intentionally, but she's the one who always has to pull them apart. And she almost got hit in the head with that rock." Vegeta's eyes flew open at those last words- Min's skull had been partially cracked open, and he still doubted she'd fully healed- and he sat up to deal with his children.

"Bura! Trunks!"

They both jumped guiltily. "Yes sir," they said, backing down from their argument without his needing to say another word. Vegeta never intervened in the fights, and they knew that if he was, he was angry. Min, completely unaware of this dynamic as their father always stopped the fights that put her in physical danger- and all of their fights when she was around did- simply glanced at her friends' parents gratefully.

Bura and Trunks knew they wouldn't date for a year if they kept arguing near Vegeta, so the siblings fell into their second favorite pastime: discussing Min's past.

"Have you remembered anything?" Bra asked her friend for the eighth time that week.

"Not really." A butterfly landed on Min's outstretched finger, resting its wings as it lied against her caramel skin. Trunks shifted uncomfortable. He hated butterflies. They reminded him of...he shook his head, clearing it of the horrific memories. _Goten... Pan...__  
_

"Trunks?" Bra asked concernedly. "What is it?"

"He hates butterflies," Min said, gently placing her winged friend on a nearby buttercup. It flew away, looking affronted. She picked another flower and munched on it thoughtfully. It wasn't the first time she'd done so, and no one paid it much mind. "You're such a baby," Min told him.

Trunks ignored the goad. "Are you feeling any better?"

"What was wrong?" Bra demanded.

"Just some bad dreams..." The young woman stretched out on the grass languorously.

"About what?" Bura wanted to know.

"I don't know," Min sighed.

"You were pretty upset, though," Trunks noted.

"Wanna talk about it, Minnie?" It had taken Min a long time to bear being called that...mostly because it had taken a long time for Trunks to stop laughing whenever heard it. He had gotten over his amusement a few months back, though, and was silent now.

"Nothing to say." The siblings both looked at her, waiting for her to elaborate. The key to opening Min up was patience. She'd say anything on her mind if you could give her an ear for long enough. And this was no exception; after a few long moments, she went on. "I can't remember any of them... There were images flashing through my head...that...they made me feel..." The woman sat up suddenly, shivering. Bra and Trunks gave each other alarmed looks, too wary to touch or comfort her lest she clam up again. They were worried. It was tough to upset her like this, especially with a dream. "I get sick just thinking about it," she continued. "Maybe... maybe I'm just remembering the sick feeling to go along with the images."

"These were memories?" Trunks asked gently.

"I...think they were." Tears started to fall from her eyes, and she was trenbling, though making no sound. This was too much for her friends to sit through- they both hugged her tightly. She started to bawl. "They're dead! They're dead! I saw them. They're DEAD!"

"Shh." Trunks pulled her head against his chest, stroking her hair soothingly. Min hugged him back, and Bra let her go reluctantly, letting Trunks handle it. Trunks pulled the woman closer. "Who's dead, Min?" he asked her softly.

"My parents. My PARENTS! I think...I _know_... I was watching them die...!"

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**Oooh, the suspense is murderous, no? I bet you can't wait! Now that I have some plot going on, you're hooked! I hope. R&R! Anything is welcome. I'm allowed to carry on the disclaimer from the last chapter, right?**

**-Abenobashi**_  
_


	3. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

**A/N: I know the title might not make much sense. I'm hoping that I'll be able to bring things together in the later chapters to make this title work...but if I can't, I can always change it lol! Also sorry about Min's incoherence...she was obviously pretty upset, sometimes we can't tell what we say.**

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Chapter 3 

**_Let Sleeping Dogs Lie_**

She was almost incoherent through her sobs, trying to describe the dream now that she could see it clearly. Trunks and Bra knew they should calm her down so they could understand her, but what she did say was bad enough.

"...BEATING...tore up...blood...eyes, blood and he tore her up and...EATING HER!" She was screaming now.

Bulma and her parents heard her then and looked around, alarmed.

Vegeta, on the other hand, had noticed when she'd first started to cry and seen his children trying to comfort her. He hadn't wanted to step in, but Min's screaming and Bura's look of horror were just too much. He flew over.

Min had completely given up on talking, and was just wailing and pounding Trunks' shoulder incessantly. The young man's expression said she was starting to hurt.

"What going on?" Vegeta demanded. Bura tried to explain, but her throat was choking up, and she could only flap her mouth like a fish. _No wonder she's useless in a fight_, Vegeta thought exasperatedly. As the young teenager grabbed her father and started crying as well, he turned to his son for an answer.

He spoke through gritted teeth. Her hits were really starting to hurt. "She had a nightmare last night, and she just-" Fed up, he grabbed her fist before it could hit again. She slumped against him, her screaming stopping as she continued to cry. Trunks sighed, and stroked her hair. "I don't know if it's real," he went on as Vegeta's eyebrow raised in impatience, "but she says her parents are dead. And that she saw them die. I don't know if they were murdered or what, but it sounds pretty damned sick. What happened to her?" he demanded, pestering his father once more for details of how he'd found Min.

Vegeta ignored the query, reaching out to shake the young woman's shoulder. She looked like such a little girl in Bura's dress. "Stop crying. You're fine." Min sniffled, opening her eyes to see Trunks and Vegeta hovering over her, looking worried, with Bra hiccupping against her father's arm with a damp face. The rest of the Briefs arrived as well, panting from running around the huge lake. "Are you better?" Vegeta asked. He sounded worried, Min noted. She sat up slowly, wiping her eyes. Trunks reluctantly let her go. "Min?" Vegeta pressed.

"Are you okay?" Bulma asked, crouching beside her as well.

Min had to take a moment to get her bearings. Her head was throbbing. She didn't remember ever crying before- and she didn't like it. It hurt like hell. "I'm okay," she said, hating the quiver in her voice. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize," Bulma told her firmly. "What's going on?"

"I...um..."

"Tell them," Trunks prodded her.

"It's not that big a deal..."

"Then why the hell are you crying, woman!?" Vegeta asked, annoyed.

"You can tell us, Min," Dr. Briefs assured her.

"It was just a dream. Or maybe not. No...I don't know..."

They stared at her. "Out with it!" Vegeta finally snapped.

She looked up at the sky for a moment, as though the sight of the vast blue expanse could help her gather the thoughts together. "I think it was a memory. Yeah...it felt like a memory. I saw..." She shuddered. Vegeta frowned at her. _How much did she know? _he wondered. He'd hoped she'd never remember what she'd been, or what had happened to her... She had become like a second daughter to him, but if her memories returned...he might have to kill her.

"Two people...were being attacked. I think...that's the simplest way to describe it. There really isn't a word in the English language...to describe what was...happening to them..."

"Why did it happen?" Trunks asked.

"Dunno."

"What the hell happened?" Vegeta grumbled. Min was being too vague.

"They died."

"You remember watching your parents die?" Bulma asked softly.

"Why couldn't you remember something happy, like your first boyfriend?" Mrs. Briefs pouted. Bulma glared at her.

Min just shrugged. "I don't think I really want to talk about it."

"That's fine," Vegeta responded, surprising everyone. He wasn't usually one to spare someone's feelings. The rest of the family tried to get her to go on, but she wouldn't say anything more about it. Before the others had given up, Vegeta stood an walked away. Bra followed him.

"What's wrong, Dad?" she asked, forgetting to be mad at him for not letting her boyfriend come.

"It's nothing, Bura."

"Why didn't you want to hear Min talk about her parent?" Vegeta grunted. "Come on, Dad," his daughter continued to harass him, "talk to me."

He sighed. Bura could be annoying as hell when she wanted him to talk. He'd better get it out of the way...before she started trying to analyze his silence. "She wasn't going to say any more. I was sick of it."

"You didn't even try to get her to talk."

"Why should I?"

"She'd have talked if you asked." She thought for a minute. "She'd probably have talked for Trunks, too...I wonder why he didn't ask...I bet there's something you know that you're not saying-"

"Bura!" Vegeta snapped. "Be quiet!"

"What?"

"Either shut up or get away from me!"

"Daddy..." She grabbed his hand and held it as they walked. _What a little girl_, Vegeta thought. But she was his little girl.

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**How do you like it? Those are probably going to be some of the few lines Dr. and Mrs. Briefs have in this story, I never really cared about them, lol! Thanks for reading!!! Don't forget to review - I promise I'll reply!**

**-Abenobashi **


	4. Someone's Gone and Kicked the Dog

**A/N: All right, I think it might be too much to hope that this title will ever really make sense compared to the others...I wonder when I wrote this? It's only been a few days, but...whew. It's been a long few days. I'm still on the fence as to whether or not this is a romance about Min and Trunks...or whether it's even a romance. I'm not sure Min would like Trunks that way...and this romance is going to have some major issues once Trunks gets to know her a little better. Heheh. I have things up my sleeve...you'll never guess!!! Heehee.**

**Oh, and I decided to take the graphic alerts out of the story because I thought they were retarded. I'm not even sure why I put them in there in the first place. So, I'll just apologize now if you hate me for that. **

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**_Chapter 4_**

Someone's Gone and Kicked the Dog****

Despite everyone's worries about Min, the picnic went off without a hitch. Min even won the pie-eating contest, finishing off a whopping four pecan pies. Trunks and Vegeta tied at two and a half, and Bra managed two slices before getting stuffed (although she claimed she was just watching her figure). Trunks, Bra, and Min had later decided to go swimming, with Trunks being so kind as to rouse the giant squid so it could spray the girls with ink. Neither one of them was happy to crawl out of the water in black dresses; and Bra's blue hair was considerably darker. Bra was absolutely livid. "This had better not be permanent, you little-"

"Bra, don't curse," her mother scolded her.

Trunks laughed. He'd been hit too, but much of it had rinsed out of his hair, so he looked as though he'd gone prematurely gray. His black clothing was fine. "Be glad it only inked you."

Bra lunged for her brother, but Min just barely managed to hold her back. "He's not worth it, man," she said, glaring at him herself. He raised his eyebrows, but knew his cue to make himself scarce.

* * *

The ink wasn't permanent, they discovered that evening back at Capsule Corp, but it took Bra three washes to restore her natural hair color. Refusing to see Trunks, she instead hid out in her room, presumably talking to one of her boyfriends...or sneaking out with him. She told her mother, however, that she was talking to Marron. 

Trunks would ordinarily have gone out with his own friends, but decided to take the chance for some alone time with Min. He wanted to hear about her parents without running any risk of his father finding out what he was up to. For some reason, Vegeta didn't like the girl's memories pried out.

He found her lying in the backyard, surrounded by the flowers she'd planted. The fireflies seemed drawn to her, their flickering lights making the air around her hazy. He walked closer, his steps almost silent along the grass.

He halted when he was close enough to see her body. She was only wearing a tank top and boxers. He'd never seen her in so little clothing...would she mind? She wouldn't talk if she was uncomfortable...

He shook his head, continuing towards her. He'd seen more of her body at the lake. As he crouched beside her, he was suddenly overwhelmed with a sickly sweet odor...but it had a bitter tang to it, just like... Goten's mutilated body writhed before him, with Pan's tortured screams filling the air...they were reaching for him...

Min sat up quickly at the sound of his moans. Trunks had fallen back, his eyes shut. He was very pale. "Trunks?" she asked worriedly. "Trunks...?" He was flat on his back, covered in a cold sweat. After a moment, Min realized he'd fainted. She shook him gently, calling his name. She was about to get help when his eyes opened. "Are you okay?"

"Min?" he asked dazedly. "Min, what...was...that smell...?" It was gone now, he noticed as he sat up. The fireflies were nowhere to be seen. Had he imagined it?

"What smell?"

"That smell...like...I can't describe it...but I've smelled it before..."

"I didn't smell anything. Is it the flowers?"

"No. Maybe it was the fireflies." He laughed at her confused expression. "I guess I've just had a long day."

Min was still worried, but let it go. "So why'd you come out here? You don't have a party to be at?"

"You should come to one sometime. It'd be fun."

"No thanks, man."

Trunks smiled. "Well, I wasn't looking for you for that, anyway."

"You were looking for me, huh? Well, what?"

"How are you doing?"

"Better than you, I'd say." Her gaze softened. "You came to check on me?"

He smiled at her, suddenly shy. He ran his fingers through his hair. "You looked funny when that was gray," Min said idly. He laughed.

"Min..."

"What?"

_Talk to me about your dream, Min_. "You look pretty," he heard himself say. _What?_

She raised her eyebrows. "Just ask me, man." _Ask you what?_ His heart pounded wildly.

"What do you mean?" _I shouldn't have done this. Why am I so nervous?_

He thought he saw laughter in her eyes as she pushed back his hair and kissed his forehead. "Why are you so jittery?" she said as though reading his mind. "You came to ask me about my dream, right?"

He had to resist the strong urge to pull her close. What was wrong with him? This was Min, not some ordinary chick. She was practically his sister... "Yeah, I did. Sorry."

She just smiled._ Keep your hands off her, Trunks_, the man told himself firmly. "So, what do you want to hear?"

"I want to know what could upset you so much," he said as normally as he could.

"You sure?"

"Talk, Min."

She closed her eyes, remembering. "I saw my mom and dad...and they were being...for what it's worth they were tough as shit to kill." She sighed. "Somehow, they got tied down. Someone...just started beating them...with a mace. Blood was everywhere...I could hear their bones being crushed...it was hard to see, I had blood in my eyes. It burns!" Her eyes started tearing profusely and she clutched them in pain. Trunk gently pried them off.

"It's okay, Min, it's just a memory. I'm here...there's no blood in your eyes. It's okay..." She relaxed after a moment, opening her eyes slowly. "See? It's not happening."

She nodded, regaining her composure. "They stopped eventually," she went on, "and they took off the restraints. My mother's legs were broken, and she was screaming...and my father got up and started hitting her and tearing at her wounds...I could hear more bones...shattering...

"And then, my father started to change, and his screams got even louder than hers. ...His spine tore through his back, his teeth grew into spikes, his jaw...it was...growing, the size of his head. And his hair withered off his head, fell to the ground... His howls were...inhuman. He was using his teeth to tear my mother to shred, and his own flesh was dripping from his body...dissolving into a glowing orange slime...his arms fell off, and they...they turned into slime too..." Min was shaking uncontrollably, but Trunks was too disturbed to notice, let alone comfort her. It sounded so...familiar...

Min regained control of herself and went on. She needed to get it out, now. "He finally finished...eating her corpse, and started slamming himself against the walls. And then...when he went to slam for the fourth time, he...he exploded. Into that radioactive...shit." She sighed, looking up at her friend. "Trunks?"

His eyes had widened in horror, and gone completely out of focus. "Trunks?" she asked, urgency entering her voice. "Trunks." She shook him, more violently when he still failed to see her. "Trunks!" she said loudly, slapping him cross the face. His eyes focused on her at last. "You okay?" she asked him.

"Yeah. It's cool." He shook his head to clear it.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have-"

No, you should." He stood up, walking around to try to release some of the pent up tension.

"Trunks?" He turned to look at her.

"Min, I've seen it...something like what happened to your father."

"You what?!" She jumped to her feet.

"Yeah," he went on shakily, "I saw it happen to my two best friends, back when that sort of thing was sweeping the globe. And it's good you told me, because I'm probably one of the only people in the world who saw that happen...and lived."

Min was silent as she took that in. "You mean...this sort of thing happened around the WORLD?!"

"Yeah, but, um...you don't remember seeing any sort of blue, glowing creature?"

"No. There was a giant man who beat them, but then he left the room and it was just the three of us. And I wasn't glowing, or blue, man. I saw my arm, I was looking away for a while when the blood spattered my arms..."

"It's okay, I believe you. But it's weird...a few years back, about two years before we found you, this glowing, blue...thing was doing that. No one else really knows the cause, like I said, no one saw it and lived, but..." He trailed off, his mind racing.

"So, I guess my parents' deaths were probably part of that? No, wait." Another memory flashed through her mind- it was her seventh birthday. "How long ago was that, again?"

"A little over four years since they started...the attacks went on for a year, but only really picked up in the last month. Tokyo was completely destroyed, along with-"

"Trunks, I'm not younger than Bra or anything, right?"

"Of course not. You're nineteen. We had you checked."

"Well, I was seven when my parents died."

"What? How do you know?"

"It was my birthday, man...watching them die was my 'present'."

He stared at her, horrified. "What the fuck...?"

* * *

**Okay, I didn't want to disrupt the storyline by putting the disclaimer at the top, so here it is: Min's father's death is my own rendition of something in Parasite Eve. The giant man is as well. Aaand...we're just going to make that run through the entire story, because I took a LOT from PE. The giant squid is from Harry Potter! ...Although I'm not sure I needed to say that. (Shrugs)**

**Do you like Min's past so far? Suggestions, comments, and anything else you might have are always welcome. And thanks for reading!**

**-Abenobashi**


	5. A Strange Distance

Chapter 5

**_A Strange Distance_**

Trunks and Min had been awfully quiet for a while, Bra'd noticed. Min had never really spoke unless spoken too, but Trunks usually bothered her incessantly. As she thought about it, though, the dynamic duo had been avoiding each other for weeks. Had they had a fight? It must have been nasty, to keep them angry for this long. And it was very unusual for them to get angry in the first place. _Maybe Trunks was hitting on her_, she thought, laughing at the idea. Min's reaction to his advances would be priceless...the girl was practically asexual, at least compared to the Briefs.

It was a few days after she'd noted their odd distance that Bra finally decided to confront them. Trunks had become moody and short tempered with the family lately, so Bra elected to talk to Min.

She knocked on her bedroom door that evening, seeing a light on long after the rest of the house had gone to sleep. "What?" Min asked in her usual blunt tone.

The younger girl opened the door, walking in. "Hi, Min."

"Hey, Bra. What is it?" She was curled up in a chair, reading, and motioned for Bra to take the seat beside her. She sat down, taking a pillow from Min's closet and making herself comfortable.

"What's going on?"

"Not much." She glanced down at the book. "You mean this? It's one of Trunks' textbooks."

"No, silly...I mean Trunks. You know what's wrong with him, don't you?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Why aren't you talking to him?"

"What would I say?"

"Min!"

Min shrugged, closing the textbook and setting it aside. She looked Bra full in the eyes. "What do you want?"

"I want you to tell me why you and Trunks are acting funny."

"We're not."

"Please. You don't talk to each other anymore. You two were best friends. What happened?"

Min smiled slowly, the expression not quite reaching her eyes. "We haven't talked for weeks, Bra. Why ask now?"

"Why don't you want to tell me!?" Bra was dying to throw a tantrum, but she knew Min would kick her out.

"We just...need some space, you know?"

"Since when?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I just...we don't want to talk right now. The feeling's mutual, Bra, don't worry about it."

"How can I not worry about it?!" She lowered her voice, leaning in closer. "He didn't...try to hit on you or anything, did he?"

Min looked taken aback. "Of course not. Is that what you were worried about?"

"Well...he's just...so moody lately."

"He's got a lot on his mind."

"Like what?"

She shook her head. "Bra, you should go ask Trunks all this."

"Is it his fault?"

"No..."

"Well, I want to hear your side of it. Come on, Min."

"Bra...just...let it go, man." She turned away, and Bra got up, defeated.

* * *

**Sorry about the masses of dialogue...I'm trying to work on character development. It will all become clear soon. It's short because...well, I just got tired of typing this part. Plus, it's three in the morning, and I want to finish this so I can upload it and go lay down. It's so cold in this room!**

**Thanks for reading! Please, tell me what you think!**

**-Abenobashi**


	6. Persistence

Chapter 6 

**_Persistence_**

Bra was down, but not beaten. She had every intention of finding out what was going on with her friend and her brother. Min's reticence had only served to make her even more curious about their sudden change. Somehow, she would make the two of them spill their guts.

The only problem was, Min was now avoiding her as well. And she was damned good at it. "Where did she go!?" Bra asked exasperatedly another day of fruitless searching. No one knew where she was. Well, she hadn't asked Trunks...he might beat her up in his present mood, and she didn't want to have to nurse a bruise on her stomach during the last months of bikini season. She had to look hot for her admirers, after all.

She tried to catch Min for a week. She'd even sat outside her bedroom door one night, but she didn't think Min had come home. Did the rest of the family notice her odd absences? They didn't seem to- or else they didn't care. Bra was getting tired of trying to catch her on her own, however. It was time to enlist help.

After some intense mental debates, she decided to tell her mother first. She thought she would understand her worry, and be kind enough to keep her nosing from her father. She was wrong. "Mind your own business!" Bulma snapped just as Vegeta was walking into the room. Bra blushed scarlet.

"What did she do now?" Vegeta asked tiredly.

"She's been bothering Min." Bulma turned back to her daughter, who was facing the powerful dilemma of whether or not to try and run. "It's none of your business where she spends her time. She's a grown woman- unlike you, I might add."

"B-but...but I'm worried about her!"

"What for?" Vegeta asked gruffly.

Bra tried to think of an excuse. "Uh...she's so small, she could get hurt out there on the streets."

Her father laughed. "I think she'll be fine."

Bra squinted at him. "Why do you always think Trunks and me could hurt her?"

"Trunks and _I_, Bra, I'm not spending a fortune on your education for you to speak badly." Bra made a face behind Bulma's back, making Vegeta raise an eyebrow.

"Dad!" Bra whined.

"What, you foolish twit?"

"Why won't you help me find Min?" She'd decided to try to win her father to the cause, after all.

"It's not like she's lost," Bulma snapped. "She eats all three meals here, in case you haven't noticed."

"Yeah, but the other night she didn't come home! Isn't she supposed to live here?"

"She doesn't have to-"

"What makes you think she didn't come home?" Vegeta interrupted.

"Well, I..." Bra didn't want to admit that she'd been sitting outside Min's room in true stalker fashion, waiting for her to come in. "We...have rooms next to each other, after all," she said lamely, waving her hand and looking away from her parents.

"Did you sit up listening for Min to come home, Bura?" Bulma yelled.

Bra's voice rose with her mother's. "Well, it's not like it's hard to here, or anything. What, do I have to wear earplugs now?!"

"Don't speak to your mother like that, Bura," Vegeta snapped.

"Will the three of you just shut up!?" Trunks walked into the room they were in, looking angry, as usual. "You're giving me a headache!"

"Don't take that tone with me, young man!" Bulma said angrily, rounding on her son instead.

"Well, maybe you should try to remember that other people have to live here! Give it a rest!"

"What has gotten into you? Trunks! Trunks!" He was already walking out the door.

Bra did some quick thinking. Her parents were pissed at her and Trunks, and if she stayed, she'd have to take the heat for them both. On the other hand, if she went after him, Trunks would probably fly her to the top of a mesa and leave her there.

She ran out the door after him. "I'll go get him," she called to her parents as they yelled her name as well.

Bulma sighed, looking over at her seething husband. She knew he was no fan of having his authority ignored, and she sympathized with him. "Why are kids such a pain?" she asked him.

"Because they're annoying brats." He growled and threw himself on the couch. "Get me a drink, woman," he said rudely.

"Get it yourself! I'm not your slave!"

"You're a woman, aren't you?"

"And who earns the money in this family?"

Their argument rang through the opened window and carried into the street that Bra was sprinting along to catch up to her brother. _He sure can walk fast,_ she thought, seeing his figure in the distance. Her legs were long, but long for her age meant slightly longer than Min's. And she was in considerably worse shape. _That does it_, she told herself tiredly,_ from now on, I'll actually work out... Make Dad happy, anyway..._ She stopped, leaning against a sign and panting. If she kept this up, someone would see her lack of athletic talent...it'd be all over the school that Trunks Briefs' little sister could barely run for a block straight. She looked ahead, trying not to lose sight of him. He wasn't that far up..."Trunks!" she called. "Wait up!" He turned around, scowling. The thirteen-year-old took a deep breath and sprinted the last half block to her brother. "You...walk...too fast," she panted.

He stared at her. "Why were you following me, anyway, you little brat?"

"Because...I wanted...to talk to...you." She crouched down on the ground, clutching her ribs in pain.

Trunks watched his sister struggling to recover, trying not to laugh in spite of himself. Choking down the cackles, he advised her, "You should stand up and put your hands over your head, Bra." She girl glared up at him, hearing the laughter, but did as he said, her breathing coming easier. "Damn, Bra, why are you in such horrible shape? You're a Saiyan, for god's sake."

"Oh...shut up. Maybe I have...better things to do than work out all the time." She was still a little short of breath.

"Yeah, sure. Do you even go swimming at the beach? Or does that wear you out too?"

"I can't swim there. The waves knock my bathing suit off... Oh, shut up!" she snapped, hitting him in the side when he burst out laughing.

He wiped his eyes slowly. "Sorry, sis, it's just...so funny...!" He broke down again, throwing his head back.

Bra sighed. "Well, you seem all right now, that's for sure."

"When wasn't I?" he asked blithely, sobering a little.

"You've been moody for weeks."

"You guys have just been annoying." He yawned, and started walking again at a normal pace. Bra walked along with him, determined to catch him, now that he was in a good mood.

"When did you go to sleep, last night, anyway?"

"I didn't," he answered, shrugging.

"Why not?"

"I couldn't sleep."

"...Well?" Bra prompted him after a moment.

"Well what?"

"Tell me why you couldn't sleep."

"Oh, Bra...don't start the twenty questions with me today, please."

"You could just tell me, so I don't have to." She smirked at him.

He rolled his eyes. "I just wasn't feeling that well."

She stopped. Surprised, Trunks turned to see what was wrong. She was eying him suspiciously. "Since when do Saiyans get sick?"

"I'm not sick."

"You are if you're not sleeping. You usually sleep like a log."

"Well, maybe I just don't feel like sleeping right now."

"You've got something on your mind, don't you?"

Trunks grimaced, annoyed. Why had she suddenly decided to grill him about his life? "No, Bra, I don't."

"Yes, you do...and let me guess- it's about Min." She eyed him closely, watching for his reaction.

"Why would I be thinking about her?"

"Well, why not? You two haven't been talking for more than a month, now."

"Yeah, and?"

"What's up?"

"Oh, hush." He flew away abruptly. Bra stamped her foot childishly, glaring up at him. What was going on?

**A/N: I think I'm having some serious issues with Bra's character. She's an annoying little sister, it's true, but it feels like I've put a couple gaps in. Well, maybe I just stuck her in to make myself laugh. She can't even run! Heehee. **


	7. Min's Flying Lesson

**A/N: I didn't want to post this yet, but my mom's in the hospital right now, and I had to keep writing this to stay calm. Don't worry, it's nothing the doctors can't fix... I'm just being paranoid. Doesn't help that I'm the only one in this house...**

* * *

Chapter 6 

_**Min's Flying Lesson**_

Min was indeed avoiding Bra's questioning. She needed some time to herself, to collect her thoughts. In all honesty, she didn't know what was going on either. Trunks seemed to have some demons of his own that he'd been keeping locked up- and Min had reminded him of them. He hadn't talked to her much since that night, and she wasn't especially eager to force herself on him. Besides, talking about the past just seemed to make her memories all the more real...and they didn't seem to be very pleasant.

Sighing, Min got up from her bed. She needed some air. Opening her window, she made the short leap to the nearby tree and grabbed on to it, swinging herself onto the branch. Clambering up the other branches, she swiftly reached the branch that stretched close enough to the house for her to leap onto the roof of the domed building. The shallower slope so close to the top allowed her to walk without much difficulty. She inhaled deeply, tasting the sweet night air.

"So this is why Bra couldn't find you," a gruff voice said from behind her. She spun around, just barely keeping her balance.

"Vegeta!" The man smirked.

"What brings you up here at this hour?" he asked.

Min shrugged, stretching. "I just needed somewhere to think. The house was getting too stuffy." She was careful not to tell him about her secret hiding place in the park, which was where she usually went when she needed to think. That place was for her alone.

"Huh. You have an interesting way of getting up here." He eyed the large tree distastefully.

Min raised her eyebrows in surprise. "How else would I get up?"

"You can't fly?"

"Fly? Why would I be able to do that? Do I look like I have wings?"

"You don't need wings to fly, you fool." He shook his head fondly. "You mean to tell me that you can't fly, and my son didn't spend all of his time mocking you?"

"Trunks can fly too?!" Min shook her head. The man was full of surprises. Trunks, that was. Although Vegeta was harboring a few as well...such as the circumstances he'd found her in...

"Of course he can. We're..." He trailed off. Somehow, he didn't feel comfortable telling Min that he and his children were aliens, and so abnormally strong compared to Earthlings that flying almost came naturally to them (Bra being a testament to the "almost" part).

"You're...what?"

"Related," he finished. Min looked skeptical that he had really meant to say that, but decided to let it go.

"Well...I see." She gazed up at the starry night, losing herself in its beauty for a few moments. If she could get closer to it... "Vegeta!" she said suddenly, the sharpness of her tone startling him slightly, "I want to learn how to fly."

He laughed. "What makes you think you can handle it?"

"If Trunks can do it, then so can I."

Vegeta's raucous cackling rang throughout the dark city streets.

* * *

Min tried to skip breakfast the next day so she and Vegeta could start as soon as possible, but her grumpy guardian refused to start his day without breakfast. Annoyed at the delay, she nevertheless managed to stay calm and eat her food fairly normally. Bra wasn't eating much at all, spending her time darting her glances between Trunks and Min. Trunks finally snapped, and knocked her in the head to make her stop.

"Hey!" she yelled. "I wasn't doing anything!"

"Eat your food, shrimp."

"Since when am I a shrimp?"

"Since you started acting like one. Now stop staring at me!"

"At you? I wasn't even looking at you, stupid."

"What else do you call it when your eyes are facing me?"

"You're so egotistical."

"Oh, is that a new word you learned in school?"

"You don't even know what it means!"

"Really?"

"Yes, you-"

"Stop it, Bra," Min said quietly from across the table, not looking up from her food. "And you too, Trunks." The pair glared at each other, and Bra stuck her tongue out at her brother. He lunged for her.

"Hey, stop that!" Bulma snapped. Min jumped up, putting herself in her usual position between the two fighting siblings. Normally, they would just fight around her, but Trunks stopped before he got too close to her. For just an instant, their eyes met, and then both looked away. No one had caught the exchange- except Bra, it seemed. Her eyes narrowed, and she gave the pair a stalker glare that was swiftly becoming her usual look. She was determined to catch them. For the time being, however, she merely skulked away. Trunks and Min stood in the dining room, not looking at each other, for a long moment, before Vegeta stood up.

"Come on, Min," he said. "You too, Trunks." Min sighed inwardly. She wanted to learn how to fly, but not at the expense of total humiliation in front of Trunks. "Min!" Vegeta said more sharply. He and Trunks were already walking outside, with Trunks looking confused. Min caught them up quickly, not wanting the ornery man to change his mind.

An hour later, after Vegeta had made a very puzzled Trunks drive the three of them to a large field about seventy miles away. "What are we doing here?" Trunks asked as they got out of the car and he collapsed it back to its Capsule.

"We're teaching Min how to fly."

Trunks gaped at his father. "We're...what?" he managed after a moment.

"You heard me. She wants to learn." He shrugged.

Trunks turned to Min. "What made you want to do that?"

Min raised her eyebrows and gave him a small, vague smile. "It sounds cool. Who wouldn't want to fly?"

Trunks rolled his eyes. "Father, why are we doing this? She can't even fight."

"Hey. I can hold my own, man." Min tossed her hair absently.

"Oh?" he scoffed. "With hair like that, you're already at a disadvantage."

Min rolled her eyes. "Well, you're stronger than me, Trunks. To you, everything about me would be a disadvantage."

"Yeah, you are pretty small, anyway..."

"Trunks!" Vegeta said sharply. "You know full well that size can be deceiving."

"Yes sir..."

Vegeta turned to Min. "Now...flying isn't that hard. All you have to do is focus your energy, and then aim it below you."

Min frowned at him, not understanding what he meant in the slightest, but willing to give it a shot. _Focus my energy_, she thought to herself, closing her eyes. She tensed all the muscles in her body as far as they would go._Now aim it below me!_ She shot all of her body's force into the earth below her and flew four feet into the air, promptly falling back to the ground. That is to say, she jumped.

"No, you fool, don't jump in the air!" Vegeta snapped. "Push off the ground."

Min looked up at him, raising her eyebrows as she pushed her long hair out of her eyes. "Isn't that what jumping is?" she asked.

"What? No! Well, yes. Don't be an idiot!" Vegeta sounded annoyed. "It's a different kind of energy."

Min blinked, completely uncomprehending. "What?"

Trunks smirked. He wasn't sure he understood why or how she knew about flying, but he was amused nonetheless.

"Now focus your energy!" Vegeta was telling her. She opened an eye that she had squeezed shut to look at him, mildly irritated.

"I am focusing it."

"No, you're just tensing your body! Can't you listen?"

"I am listening. I don't know what you're talking about!"

Trunks chuckled at the pair. "He means your life energy."

"My...life energy?" Min looked aghast. "That doesn't sound pleasant."

"It's not that bad."

"Don't I need it...to live?"

"Yes, you idiot, but you're not going to use all of it," Vegeta barked. "Now, focus it."

Min stared at them as they watched her expectantly. "But...I don't know how."

"Figure it out!" Vegeta told her.

Min stared at him a moment, trying to tell if he was serious. Deciding he was, she flopped herself down on the ground. "So," she asked, looking up at them, "I just need to find what's making my heart beat, and focus that somewhere?" _Without killing myself?_ she added mentally...

"Just do it!" Vegeta snapped.

Sitting on the grassy plain, Min closed her eyes and watched her heart for a while, trying to figure out what was making it beat. _Electrical signals sent through the muscle_, Trunks' textbook's quotation ran through her heard. _The heart muscle fibers can actually generate their own_- Min forced the thought from her mind. She didn't need to know what it was; she needed to know where it came from, so she could tap into it...because watching her heart sure as hell wasn't doing a damned thing. After an hour of searching, she opened her eyes, anger and impatience flashing through her onyx colored eyes. She was fed up with their vague instructions. "What the hell am I looking for?" she snapped.

Trunks looked as though this were the most entertaining thing he'd seen in his life. Maybe it was- Min usually reserved her anger for him, and here she was, dishing it out to Vegeta. The man glared at her angrily. Obviously, he hadn't planned on her taking this long to find the force she needed to use to fly. "This!" he snapped, shooting a fiery yellow beam of light into the ground by Min's feet and burning a hole through the soil.

She stared at the spot, torn between outrage that the shot had almost hit her, and disbelief that it had actually happened. Slowly, she turned her gaze up to Vegeta. Disbelief seemed to have won out- possibly because she truly wanted to learn to fly, and pissing off her teacher was not the way to go about it. "What was that?" she asked quietly. Trunks could hear her struggling with her anger, and fought hard not to laugh.

"That was energy, woman."

"Where did you get that from?" she asked him, trying to understand everything that he was throwing at her at once.

"I got it from inside my body! There's energy there!"

Min shot him an icy glare before looking down at her own hand. "Do it again," she told him, looking up to try to see it.

Vegeta raised his eyebrows, but obliged, even going so far as to gather the energy slowly enough for her to see it. This time, he shot his blast safely to Min's side. Slowly, Min turned her own hand around before her. Putting the energy into her hands felt like a much safer bet than trying to throw enough of it into the air to push herself off the ground. Focusing on the heat that her body was flowing into her hands, she felt herself generating the fireball, even though she was too astonished to really take in the sight. She looked up at Vegeta, smiling, but he looked uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable... "Why is it so damned hot?" he snapped, pulling off his shirt. Just as he was about to slip it off his arms, they caught fire.

"What the FUCK!?" the man roared, throwing off his shirt and quickly shaking the flames from his bare skin. Min was alarmed, but somehow, the fireball didn't go out.

"Vegeta?" she asked concernedly, rushing over to him. She didn't even notice as the flames in her hand grew larger, licking the skin along her arm and torso.

"Min!" Trunks yelled, shooting an energy blast himself. It caught the fire, as he intended, the intense wind and power blowing the flames off his friend. He approached her, pulling her back from Vegeta, not sure if the man would catch fire again. Suddenly, he felt nauseous...it was that smell again...

Min looked around, confused to see Trunks falling back from her with his hand over his mouth. She saw him start to vomit, and moved closer to help him, but he waved her away, controlling himself as he put almost a mile's distance between them. He ran incredibly fast, she noticed. She hadn't realized that he was so quick.

She turned back to Vegeta, who was panting on the ground, staring at her arm. "What is it, Vegeta? Are you okay?" He looked up at her oddly. Min backed away uncomfortably, not sure why he was eyeing her as though she was a different person. And it did not seem that he liked what he saw...not in the slightest. "Um...Vegeta? You're giving me a weird look, man..." He stood up, watching her carefully. "I, uh...I guess that's a yes? Look," she said, grabbing the car capsule that had fallen from Trunks' pocket while he was trying to get away from her, "since you all can fly, I'm just gonna head on back to the house, okay? I don't think I want to learn how to fly, after all." She threw the capsule to the ground, turning to try to sprint over to it, and running smack into Vegeta. _How the hell did he move so fast?_ she wondered. She was starting to get scared. Vegeta held his hand up to her face, another yellow energy beam forming right in front of her...and this one looked a lot bigger. "Um, Vegeta? J-just what are you gonna do with that, man? I th-think I get the energy shit..." His expression was blank, unmoving. _He's going to kill me_, Min thought to herself, frightened out of her wits. "Vegeta?" she asked one last time. She thought she saw a flicker of pity in his eyes.

* * *

**Wow, that was a long update! Well, I wanted to keep going, but there's no way I can keep writing this chapter with a cliff hanger that good! I'm actually getting even worse now, I've been working on this all night instead of sleeping, so sorry if it's screwy... my mom won't let me visit her and I'm missing my final history exam! Woo for me.**

**Thanks for reading, as always! Let me know what you think.**

**-Abenobashi**


	8. Vegeta's Dark Secret

**A/N: Okay, sorry for the long wait without updating. I've been writing on fictionpress. Anyway, this story is a big baby of mine, but I think I need to basically rewrite this. And I've known that for a while, but I've sorta been putting it off. But no more! After I post this chapter, I will go back and rewrite this! Most people hate OC stories, so I actually need to make this one good. Plus, all of the chars are OOC….oooookay, I'm talking too much. Um…try to enjoy?**

Vegeta was holding the beam of energy right in front of Min's face. _He's gonna kill me_, she thought to herself. _Shit..._

The man stumbled suddenly, and the blast fired off, shooting far into the distance. His vision had fogged over, and he couldn't see Min. He was so hot. His body...his body...it was on fire! He howled with the pain, but it vanished as swiftly as it had come. He had collapsed onto the ground, and Min looked at him as he lay on his back, still wary of his sudden change.

Vegeta opened his eyes slowly. They felt swollen, and it was hard to move the lids. As he finally pried them open, he saw Min standing over him. He needed to kill her...her powers were returning. If she became what she once was...

And yet, the woman looking down upon him didn't have the eyes of a ruthless killer. She looked concerned for him, despite the fact that he had wanted to kill her...although he hadn't had the strength to do it. He had only fired the blast because...she'd hit him with her...energy, and startled him...

"Vegeta?" he heard her ask, seemingly from far away. "Vegeta? Are you okay, man?" His sight was fading in and out of focus...he was losing consciousness...

It was a cold, rainy day. Vegeta didn't really understand why he'd chosen to leave the house...but the rain felt good against his skin. It was nice to get out of the house...away from that woman's incessant chatter... He shook his head as he thought of his wife. He loved her, it was true, but...did she have to be quite so irritating? What had he signed up for, anyway? He grimaced, knowing that he would need to return home eventually.

Suddenly, he sensed something ahead of him. Instantly alert, he flew into the air, silently searching for the source of the power. It was fairly strong...not as strong as he was, of course, but he always liked a little exercise...

Peering through the rain-clouded air, he caught the dim sight of a shadow just below him. His senses told him that this was the source of the energy, and he approached, not bothering to hide himself.

The figure below him didn't see him, however, as it was concentrating on something on the ground. As Vegeta came close enough to see what was happening, he realized that there was a person on the ground, and that the figure above was beating them with something. "Hey!" Vegeta shouted, landing on the ground and walking over to pull the attacker off. It was a man, he noticed, with drenched, blond hair that fell down to his shoulders in massive locks even more tangled than his own. A bolt of lightning flashed down, momentarily illuminating his steel blue eyes, laced with red around the iris. The blond haired man drew back his fist and punched Vegeta, knocking him through the wall of a nearby building. The structure was already unstable, and Vegeta's impact sent several floors crashing down on his head.

He threw the concrete slabs off easily, and saw that the man had returned to the figure on the ground. As the enraged Saiyan returned to attack the man, he saw him bring his fist down onto the figure's head with enough power to make Vegeta freeze for a moment. The man was as strong as he was, based on the force from that strike. The victim's head should have been smashed like a watermelon, but from this distance, it looked as though the blow had done little damage. Shaking himself, he threw a punch at the assailant, knocking him across the deserted city street. Barely taking the time to notice the other one was female, Vegeta shot after the man, wasting no time in taking his advantage. The man, however, was prepared, and caught his blow with one hand.

Vegeta tried to push his fist forward, but the blond haired man brought his foot up to make contact with Vegeta's ribs, sending him flying through the wall of the building once again. He stood up, annoyed now, but the man was approaching with two gigantic swords, holding each with one hand as though they weighed nothing. Things were getting serious now, Vegeta admitted reluctantly, and he powered himself up to Super Saiyan. The other man looked taken aback, and stood for a moment, eying his opponent carefully. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Vegeta spat at him.

The blond haired man said nothing, and the light from Vegeta's Super Saiyan form was glinting eerily off the man's blue eyes. The dark irises looked like pits surrounded by flames. Vegeta narrowed his own eyes, taking a chance at launching an offensive before the man made the first move.

He seemed to be waiting for Vegeta to do just that. His blade flashed through the air like the lightning around them, and Vegeta narrowly missed getting sliced as he turned to the side. He caught the man's ribs with a heavy, slugging punch, and the man was thrown back, gasping.

As he turned his body in mid air to jump off the building instead of crashing through it, Vegeta realized the other man could not fly. The Saiyan moved out of the way of the impending strike, swift almost to the point of invisibility. His recognition of an advantage had boosted his confidence once more, and he slammed his elbow into the man's back, sending him crashing into the asphalt, and making a crater several feet into the ground. Vegeta hastily darted away as the blond man swung his blades wildly, leaping up from the depression, and roaring as he tried to catch Vegeta between the flashing strikes of his swords. His attack swiftly forced Vegeta back in order to avoid being slashed to pieces, and before long, the man had Vegeta against a wall. The Saiyan made an attempt at stoicism, but he was getting nervous...the blond smirked, swinging his blade, convinced Vegeta had no escape...

* * *

**A/N, once again: I can TOTALLY understand if you're confused. Ah...wow. Um...this story is...well, now that I've had some time away from it, I really hate it. Course, I hate all my stuff, so that's nothing new. But this...argh...needs so much work... Maybe I'll come back to this later. MAYBE. In the mean time, I think I'll try my hand at something...ANYTHING else. And yes, the guys with the blades was pretty much Cloud from FFVII. I do not own FFVII. Iiiiicky... Any tips would be very welcome. I need to find something to do that doesn't make me ashamed... Heheh...  
**


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